The Los Angeles Rams get a shot at revenge early in the 2025 NFL season with a Week 3 game against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
The last time these two teams faced off, Philadelphia got the better of L.A. in a tight six-point game. This time around, not much has changed except for the fury of a team who missed a chance to fight for a Super Bowl berth.
There will be a lot of intriguing matchups to watch in this game, but Pro Football Focus’ Bradley Locker sees two Rams-Eagles battles being the best to watch this week: Puka Nacau vs. Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean as well as Jared Verse vs. Eagles offensive tackle Jordan Mailata.
Although Nacua’s slot usage rate sat near 30% in his first two seasons, that number has skyrocketed to 61.1% of his total snaps to begin 2025. When these squads battled during the 2024 divisional playoff, DeJean contained Nacua to one catch for 16 yards across eight coverage snaps. With no more Cooper Kupp on the inside in LA, expect these two wunderkinds to square off even more in Week 3.
Last season, Mailata only allowed three pressures in three separate games, and one of them came against the Rams and Verse in the postseason. Indeed, across 12 pass-rushing matchups between the two forces, Verse produced two pressures and a 16.2% pressure rate. Los Angeles will need an encore if it wants to move to 3-0 on the road in Philadelphia.
Nacua and Verse are two of the Rams’ best players. If either or both have good games, then L.A. should be in a position to win the game. The fortunate element for the Rams is that they have a lot of depth at both of those positions: Davante Adams is there on the receiving end while Byron Young and rookie Josaiah Stewart have skill at edge rusher.
This will be arguably the top NFC clash of the weekend and could have huge ramifications for the playoff seeding in January if both teams continue to make postseason pushes.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Puka Nacua’s and Jared Verse’s matchups named among best to watch in Rams-Eagles
Reporting by Tyler Greenawalt, Rams Wire / Rams Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
